


Amy's Quirks

by brooklynbaby (d_28)



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24393565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d_28/pseuds/brooklynbaby
Summary: Jake knows everyone at the Nine-Nine pretty well. But he knows Amy Santiago a little too well.akaMy two-cents on what the Jake-Peralta-Boyfriend-Experience entails.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 11
Kudos: 101





	Amy's Quirks

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever attempt at a Peraltiago fanfic. I had this random idea and thought it was cute. Please don't judge it too hard!! Also, please don't pay attention to the timeline. It really isn't relevant to the story.
> 
> Happy Reading! 
> 
> P. S.: Some bits in this are autobiographical. I'll let you figure out which ones hehe ;)

Jake Peralta had always prided himself on knowing things about his colleagues. He was an amazing detective/genius who could notice things no one could. He was observant, and despite his many other inabilities, he could remember a ton of information about people. And in true Jake fashion, he also made sure they all knew how well he knew them.

He knew Hitchcock went bald at fifteen and Scully dated Hitchcock’s wife. At any given time, he knew where Charles would be. But that might also be a result of Charles texting him every hour to update him about his whereabouts. 

He knew Rosa had a shower at her apartment, or at least he thought she did. He knew literally everything about Gina given their extremely long history. He also knew better than to reveal anything about her to anyone without informing her first. He even thought he knew a fair bit about Captain Holt. The fact that he could hula hoop, for example.

But, what he would never admit to anyone, at least initially, was  
that he probably knew Amy a little too well. He knew when she was grumpy and could ascertain the cause behind it at least 90% of the time. He was the only one in the precinct who could name all her brothers in chronological order. He was also pretty sure that he could name all of her ex-boyfriends and flings (however many she claimed there were). So, you might say he was a bit obsessed after all.

Years of sitting across from a woman he was completely captivated by was bound to do that to him. His work hours included solving cases, napping, looking at Amy, eating dangerously sweet food, crying about paperwork, pranking people, staring at Amy again and solving more cases. And, because Jake was such a great detective, he picked up on her little habits and quirks. 

He yearned for those tid-bits of information about her that helped him get to know her better. He locked them away safely in his memory in the hopes of making good on them one day. He knew things about her, out of sheer observation and attention, that no one in the precinct could have known. Now, one could pin this on the fact that they were partners. So, it was normal to know each other that well. But this was not the case here.

He had liked Amy for as long as he could imagine. Sure, it took him a while to realize it but he found out that all this time he had just been bottling up everything he could find out about her and taking her in, quirks and all. He really had become obsessed with her forever. And the time did come when he could make empty the little safe with Amy’s name on it that lived rent-free in his brain.  
After months of back and forth, dating the wrong people, being completely awkward goofs around each other and finally getting together, he could proudly say that Amy was finally his and he was hers.

He was so smitten by her that there was nothing he would not do to make her happy. It was her world and he was just living in it and making it the happiest place for her to be. At least that’s how he saw it.

He knew every little quirk that Amy had—quirks that sometimes she also was not aware she was exhibiting.

1\. 

For instance, he knew Amy never did things in threes. You see she was a bit compulsive in some ways. She liked order. She liked everything being in its place. Amy was incredibly particular about the way she did things. And, for some reason, she hated doing anything three times. 

She just hated that number for no reason. It gave her "evil vibes" and if she did anything for exactly three times, it would eat away at her brain and she would have to do it a fourth time too.  
Jake knew this because before they lived together, whenever Amy would come over, he would recognize it was her just by her knock. She would knock thrice, pause for a second and then there ALWAYS came another knock. She had to crack either two eggs or four for their breakfast. Three eggs felt wrong to her. She couldn’t take only three sips of water. There had to be a fourth one too.

And as Jake had eventually come to realize, Amy was nothing if not consistent. And after many curious glances at her when she did something weird when he finally did pick up on this habit of hers, he couldn’t help but sigh in adoration and make a mental note. The first of many in the process of revealing the many layers of Amy Santiago. 

And also because Jake wanted to be the best boyfriend in the world, he did things. Small little things that he didn't even expect her to notice. He did think only to calm her down and make her feel happy. 

So, Jake made sure he bought her four roses instead of three. He made sure he bought two or four doughnuts from the cart across their apartment building. He always sent her more than three heart emojis at a time. He never gave her three kisses in a row. He always followed it up with a bonus one. And whether Amy picked that up or not was inconsequential. As mentioned, that's not why he did any of it. This was the woman he loved and if he could ease her nerves by taking that fourth step, that little extra leap, he would always do it in a heartbeat.

2\. 

Amy was a big bookworm and absolutely not shy to admit it. Everyone knew this about her. Some even made fun of her for it. And some (read: Captain Holt) geeked out over the same things with her. 

She would always have a 10-pound flashlight as well as a book she was currently reading in her bag. She had another book for her side-table which she would read only at night. She had even roped Jake into reading once in a while. Case in point, Jake now knew for sure that Amy was in Ravenclaw and he was a mix of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, depending on the day. 

He had often spent time exploring her library when they had moved in together. He would pour over some of the books he found on her shelves or in her cabinets—some from way back in time and some she had bought recently, each of which contained a bookmark because Amy Santiago would never fold pages like a savage. 

He loved finding notes she wrote on pieces of paper and put it within the pages of each book because Amy would also never write on the pages of a book directly. She would always mention the date she got that book on the first page and write her name underneath in her incredibly neat handwriting. That was the farthest she would go to violate the sanctity of its clean unmarked pages. Jake knew all of this and so did she.

However, it was well into a year of dating when he realized that unknowingly Amy always used a bookmark in a colour that matched the cover of the book. So, when Christmas came knocking on his door and he pondered over what to get her, he was catapulted to a time when Amy had specifically asked him for old expensive books, a list of which he knew she had tucked away somewhere. 

This was another thing he knew about Amy. Everyone was aware Amy was an avid list-maker. But only Jake knew how grossly they had all been underestimating her. There had been many nights when even after copious amounts of love-making, Amy would still find the energy in her tired-body to sit down and make a list of something she needed to remember before she actually turned in for the night. It also made him question, much to her amusement, whether he was actually doing a good job of tiring her out or not.

Finding the perfect opportunity one day while she was pulling an extra shift at work, he snuck into her laptop, and not much to his surprise, found a folder titled “Books” within a folder titled “Future Purchases” within another folder titled “Five-Year Plan”. Again, Amy was the most consistent woman he had ever met.

He made sure to jot down the list, none of the words of which made any sense to him whatsoever, and enlisted the help of his best friend Charles to source a few of the books on the list. He couldn’t exactly afford rare editions of all of those after all. But he knew that even if he managed to get just one, it would make Amy happy, which would, in turn, make him the happiest man on earth.

But, as Amy gleefully ripped into the package on Christmas morning and looked at the vintage editions of some of her favourite classics before her, what melted her heart was not that Jake remembered or that he knew she had wanted this forever. It wasn’t even the fact that he went through a hell lot of trouble and some shady deals, as he would tell her later, to acquire these books.

What brought literal tears of joy to her eyes was the fact that inside each of the four books he got her, he included a bookmark, matching the colour of the book cover, with a tiny note he made sure to write on it.

3.

Amy had a way she lived her life. She had a set of rules she had to follow. She had a system she couldn't let go of. While she did not always make the healthiest choices in every situation, she did try her best. And that's saying something compared to the people she worked with. 

She tried to work out once in a while. Work pretty much kept her in shape but she would squeeze in a run whenever she felt like it. She would eat healthy.…on most days. To be honest, ever since she started dating Jake, she had been slipping up in that department. Whenever he gave her that signature Jake look, her salads got switched for greasy pizzas really fast. Sometimes even followed by a pint of ice-cream shared between them in bed. 

She slept for seven to eight hours every night. Except on the nights when other things involving her very charming boyfriend carried her attention away from adhering to her strict sleeping schedule. 

She had a system and it worked for her. But her one hang-up that Jake couldn't comprehend was her need to drink a minimum of ten glasses of water a day. As someone who wasn't very regular at consuming water, a fact Amy had yet to come to terms with, this was bizarre to him. How could she even remember to drink water? But then again, Amy could say the same for him. How could he not? 

So, when Jake realised that drinking less than ten glasses before 12 A.M. led to a very grumpy and very annoyed Amy, he put his little touch to mend the situation. And this would happen once in a while whenever there was a big situation at work that distracted her from anything else. 

He downloaded an app on his phone that reminded one to drink water based on the intervals they could set. Doing the math (as best as he could), he set a timer on his phone. And on those days, which increased since Amy was promoted to Sergeant, when she wouldn't have time for anything else, he would send her hourly reminders. 

He would drop her a text or go down to her floor and wordlessly leave a glass of water at her desk. He would sometimes call her up to remind her or, if she was occupied, tell one of her officers to hand her a glass. Each time he did this, Amy felt her heart light up in unimaginable ways. 

This sweet man, who did not even use the reminders to drink water himself, would remind her because he knew this was what she needed. Amy prided herself on being on top of things, but really, it was Jake Peralta who brought the much-needed balance in her otherwise chaotic life. 

4\. 

One of the greatest pleasures of Jake's life was watching the love of his life get dressed. He reveled in the joy that he was the only man who was allowed to witness the sight of a very naked Amy Santiago getting ready for work in the morning, or to go out on their days off, or even just to go to bed. 

He loved the way she would always tilt her head to the side while deciding what to wear. He admired her attempts at doing her hair, failing to get it the way she wanted, getting frustrated by the whole ordeal and then just giving up and making her signature hair bun. 

He especially enjoyed it when she did her makeup. To him, Amy was the most beautiful woman in the world, with or without any additions to her face, but god dammit when she glided that red lipstick over her lips, he had to do everything in his power to not kiss it off her face right then and there. 

Even on normal days, he had managed to create a routine out of this. Since she always woke up before him, she would start nudging him the moment she got up. While she went about doing her business and taking her shower, he would start waking up slowly. He truly only ever came to his senses when she rewarded him with the sight of her walking out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel (and sometimes not even that). 

Despite her incessant protests, he would stay an extra five minutes in bed and follow her around with his eyes. In the initial days of their relationship, she would get shy and sometimes even go put on her clothes elsewhere. But very quickly she got more comfortable being around him in her most vulnerable states, literally and figuratively. She got so used to it that sometimes, and she would always deny this in front of Jake, that she even knowingly put on a show for him, very well aware of the things it would do to his sense of restraint. 

However, after observing her a few too many times, Jake figured out soon enough into their relationship that Amy had a particular knack for matching her underwear. On any given day, he discovered, the colour of her bra would perfectly match her panties, even if they weren't part of a set.

He had heard that many women liked to do that. But he had never met anyone who did this regularly, and not just when they wore one of those fancier lacey sets for special occasions. Amy Santiago matched her underwear even when she had nothing to do but spend her day parked on her couch. She was so consistent it blew Jake away. 

So, as a further extension of the Jake Peralta Boyfriend (and later Fiancé) Experience, he took it upon himself to help out. At some point, and even Jake couldn't remember when, he started getting off his ass while Amy was in the shower and began ruffling through her underwear drawer himself. He would match her underwear and lay it out on the bed and then jump right back in between the sheets. 

The first time Amy came out of the bathroom and saw the little presentation on the bed made by a very earnest and eager-looking Jake, she didn't know whether to laugh at how ridiculous this was or cry at how sweet he could be. She resorted to both.  
Slowly, this became a habit. Amy would always emerge out of the shower, even when they showered together, to find her underwear laid out for her, matched to perfection. And on days when Jake had to leave early or couldn't be there, she missed this little gesture. 

Amy never let others do too many things for her. She liked to be independent and self-sufficient. She liked to do her own things in her own ways. Even as a child, her mother worried the least about her. Infact, Amy ended up bringing order to her chaotic household with eight kids running around at all times. She was balance personified. She was orderly, composed and organized. Or at least she thought she was. 

But if Jake Peralta, wanted to go the extra mile and do things in fours, and get her expensive books with matching bookmarks, and remind her to drink water every hour and even lay out her underwear perfectly matched for her, then who was she to stop him, right?


End file.
